Review: Sugru

From the moment I read another blogger’s review of this substance, I have been a little bit over-excited. They offered me a pack to review but I also bought myself an 100g pack and another good sized multi pack for my Dad’s father’s day present.

Described as a cross between play-doh and superglue, Sugru claims to stick to just about anything and is heat and cold proof. When you open the packet, it is indeed the texture of play-doh but if you leave it for 24 hours it sets into a firm rubber and adheres to the surface you have stuck it to. I adore this idea, in fact my house is already quite a lot Heath Robinson/Wallace and Gromit and I get frustrated when I cannot mend things and am always having ideas about how to improve what I already own. Sugru fills the gap that was badly needed in my equipment stash. I think if I had an unlimited supply of Sugru, I truly could find unlimited used for it. In three days, i have used a full 100g pack and have 2 5g packs of the multi pack left. I also LOVE that this is invented by a woman.

I recommend looking at their website for myriad uses for the stuff, but here are my own inventions, some better than others. I have also added updates to some of them that have now been in use for a few weeks.

Mended: Sean the Sheep’s ears that had been removed by my son. Update: One of them does look as though it may come off if I pull it.

Fixed: “Mr Bloom’s car”. Previously mended with duck tape but the wheel remained delicate and wonky. It is now straight and secure.

Improved: The loo seat that now is a bit more soft-close when my son drops it after his business. Update: My son managed to peel them off. I have now tried sticking them back on with superglue. Let’s see if that lasts!

Improved: A row of dinosaur pegs that were beautiful but everything fell off of. With some additional Sugru hooks adhered to the end, they can be used properly at last.

Improved: My dog-walking belt. I have an old army belt that I bought from ebay. The small pockets are filled with treats and I clip the poo bag holder to the bullet storage and have altered it to hold a ‘lobber’. The catch kept coming undone though so I stuck some Sugru around it and it had not fallen off my hips yet. Update: the belt broke! The metal just snapped off one day. Did sugru weaken it or was it at the end of it’s life anyway. Odd, though.

Ooops! I’ve included the loo seat twice. Forgive me.

Mended: My extension lead

Mended: Broken headphones

Mended (to be confirmed): My extendible washing line had started to come away from the wall. I have stuck some Sugru in the holes and hammered it back in. I will report back whether this lasts the course. Update: the sugru didn’t work and it ame out again. No more nails glue seems to be holding it though.

Protected: My tablet, and added some slip-proof feet. The Sugru makes it much easier to grip as well, improving the whole tablet experience. Update: some of the sugru has started to peel off the screen protector. I’m sure my little boy will get his picky fingers under and this will all come off soon too.

Improved: My son’s digital camera, I added Sugru to help him grip it more easily.

Invented: some hooks onto my monitor screen to hook things like leads and the mouse over when not in use. I also made a keyboard rest. This was a failure, as the Sugru bent and would not hold the weight of the keyboard. If I did that again I would use Sugru over metal. But then the monitor suddenly stopped working. Not sure how Sugru can fix that particular problems so I removed the hooks and keyboard rest. Not wanting to waste all that Sugru I plan to refashion the keyboard rest into a tablet prop (see picture 2). Update: The sugru was very easy, a bit too easy to remove from the monitor. The tablet prop is inelegant but effective and I wished I’d used that quite large bit for something else.

Re-invented: A cheap plate stand that I had been using as a tablet stand. It was OK but not great and then I sat on it and it broke. I mended and reinforced it, added non-slip feet and rest grips and adjusted the width to a good Skyping angle.

Improved: My Ray-Bans, bought cheaply from ebay years ago but were always falling off and thus never got much use. I added some nose grips and stuck some Sugru in the arm joint to make it tighter on my head. Update: No bother with the nose grips but the sugru in the arm joints fell off really quickly.

Improved: I have some suckery “kangaroo pockets” on my bathroom tiles which are great, but the do keep falling off. I have made a couple of these more permanent with Sugru. I hope these last too, only time will tell (also will report back). Update: My son pulled them off. No good there then, either! I’ve stuck them on now with some double sided tape from Aldi.

Also (not pictured): fixed my safety chain on the front door that kept coming apart. Added a blob to my front door key to make it more tactile and easy to find.

HELP! I am feeling a bit anxious now. I have two 5g packs of red Sugru left. I feel a bit sad already. Some of that will be used to improve my Sugru tablet prop-that-was-a-keyboard-stand. Some will be used to re-apply the hooks somewhere. I will have to think carefully now my stash has been depleted. I would love to make a phone holder for the car but i think this would take a lot of Sugru and a bit of planning. I’ve also got a a few more kangaroo pockets to adhere, if the fix works. Normal superglue has only lasted short times with these so it will be interesting to see if Sugru holds up to the job. I also have an idea for lead storage attached to a metal clip. And parts of the laminate floor could do with reinforcing. Oh- and a leather chair but I think that would take way too much Sugru.

Things I learned: I did make bumpers for my phone too but used it again too soon and they fell off. You really do have to wait the full 24 hours for the curing time. Washing up liquid stops it sticking to the wrong things but can also seep upwards and hinder the stick that you are trying to do. It does come off non-porous surfaces pretty well with a knife and some rubbing.

Things I learned part 2: Sugru seems to stick OK to tiles and metal but it fails a bit on plastics. If you have a small child in the house, I would avoid using it for thisngs that they can play with because it is so bright and colourful their little fingers will soon work it off it’s surface. If you have a child who eats things, be doubly cautious, becasue it could look like a tasty sweet.

I ended up using the remainder to stick more pockets on and to fix my sugru failures. My final invention with the tiny bit I had left was a nose ring holder – I’m always mis-placing the thing and now it has it’s own place.

Overall, I’m a bit peeved at having wasted loads on inventions that failed, and that it didn’t stick too well to plastic. Avoid if you have fiddly-fingered kids, or be prepeared to re-apply with superglue. It is quite cool and will keep it in mind for mending the grown-up stuff but I think electrical tape might be cheaper, as well as or instead of. I’m a bit 50/50 about buying more now.

Comments

Hi – Just stumbled across your Sugru post from a Google search and wanted to relate a couple of tips I have learned over the last few years as a Sugru fanatic.

1.) Clean your surfaces – I use rubbing alcohol and clean paper towels to clean any surface I want Sugru to stick to. The less gunk, oil, plasticizer, etc. on the sticking-to surface, the stickier the stick-to will be.

2.) Make your Sugru seam snug – I’ve found that a blob of Sugru just stuck onto a surface will peel off fairly easy/quick, but if you take a little extra care when applying it to smoosh down the edge where the rubber meets the sticking-to surface, the mechanical bond will be much more secure. Basically, I just use my fingertip or a tool to press the seam smooth and even pull the edge ever-so-slightly out to make a stronger base for adhesion.

3.) Sugru is magic, but it still won’t hold up that elephant – I use Sugru primarily to make things grippy, add protection, or create custom little bits’n’bobs, but when it comes to holding weight or providing structure in a larger project I always use some kind of stiffener inside the Sugru to do the heavy lifting. Coat hanger wire, InstaMorph/Polymorph/etc., metal, and wood are all great for this purpose.

that’s fantastic, thank you. I have trouble with it sticking for any length of time for items that are frequently used, for example my loo seat anti slammers came off, so I glued them on, and then they cracked and came apart eventually. Similarly, my tablet protection strips have come off on the more used parts, and my glasses nose thingys fell off too. I understand they are not great for heavy things but one of their demos showed a plant pot on the back of a chair – if this was full of soil than it would be quite heavy and in my experience it would have fallen off, sooner rather than later.

My headphones fixers came apart, and the car mobile phone holder fell off, so I have up and just bought a window-sticking one.

The wall dinosaur coat hooks are still ok, as are my tablet corner protectors, and I’ve used it to create a finger gripping section on the rear too, that seems to be holding up.

It’s a really useful substance, I just think be aware to a) clean the surface as you say and b) things that have daily use may not last forever.